Where was compliance?

The news about the FBI investigation into the underbelly of college basketball dropped as a bombshell
in late September when the Justice
Department announced indictments of

10 individuals. The allegations were bothsalacious and mundane. (I know youwere shocked, shocked to hear thatcollege athletes had been paid.)

Yet both the quantity and quality
of this scandal are very different.

First were the allegations of up tosix-figure amounts being paid tohigh school athletes to steer themto schools with shoe contractsfrom apparel companies such asAdidas. Next was the payment of cashby Adidas to assistant coaches to deliverto the athletes. Finally was the complete,total, and utter lack of any involvementby the NCAA, that is, after all, chargedwith policing college sports. It is not asif rumors of these payments had beencirculating for years.

Every big-time university, public or
private, has a compliance function. One
of their duties is to ensure compliance
with the myriad of NCAA regulations to
keep their scholarship athletes legitimate
so they can compete for their respective
universities. When one of the country’s
top high school basketball players
suddenly announces he is going to a
school he had not previously considered
or had no familial ties to, one might
reasonably consider if that school’s
compliance function has the will or
even ability to engage in such
an investigation.

The Penn State scandal demonstrated
why universities need a strong compliance
function. Even with the multiple reports of
nefarious acts by Jerry Sandusky, no one
stood up and reported the conduct. The
continuing scandals at universities about
sexual assault by scholarship athletes
and the attendant cover-ups point out
that an ethical culture is needed now as
much as it ever has been needed in our
educational system.

Now there are criminal allegations
against assistant basketball coaches at some
of the country’s most storied programs.

More will surely be revealed as the scandal
and FBI investigation unfold. If the sham of
amateurism cannot or will not be protected,
it may be time to scrap the entire system
where everyone is legally paid except
those toiling in the trenches—the players
themselves. But before we get to that, I
would like to know, where was compliance
at the universities in question and at the
NCAA? If you have a compliance function
that will not or cannot do compliance, you
are doomed to fail from the start. ✵

Thomas R. Fox ( tfox@tfoxlaw.com) is the Compliance Evangelist.

www.fcpacompliancereport.com @tfoxlaw

If you have a compliancefunction that will not orcannot do compliance,you are doomed to failfrom the start.